Curriculum Vitae
Yitzhak Pilpel (updated: september 2019)
Personal Details
Date of birth: September 12th 1968
Citizenship: Israeli
Mailing Address:
Dept. of Molecular Genetics
Weizmann Institute of Science
Rehovot 76100, Israel
Contact Information:
Phone: 972 8 934 6058
Fax: 972 8 934 4108
E-mail: [email protected]
Lab home page: http://longitude.weizmann.ac.il
Employment History
2015 - Full Professor Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of
Science. Group leader.
2008 – 2015: Associate Professor Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann
Institute of Science. Group leader.
2010 - Incumbent of the Ben-May Professorial Chair
2008 – 2009: Visiting Professor, Department of Systems Biology, Harvard
Medical School.
2003 – 2008: Senior Scientist, Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann
Institute of Science. Group leader.
Academic Administration
2019-present: Head, Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of
Science
2018-present: Director, Azrieli Institute of Systems Biology, Weizmann Institute
of Science
2015-2018: Head, Committee on Appointment of Senior Scientists (tenure track
faculty entry rank), Life Sciences Faculties, Weizmann Institute of Science.
2010-2013: Member of Committee on Appointment of Senior Scientists (tenure
track faculty entry rank), Weizmann Institute of Science.
2009-2012: Member of Committee on Appointment of Senior Scientists (tenure
track faculty entry rank), Life Sciences Faculties, Weizmann Institute of Science.
2007 - 2008 Member of the Board of Studies, Life Sciences Feinberg Graduate
School, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel..
2004 - 2008 Head of the Graduate Program in Bioinformatics Feinberg
Graduate School,. Weizmann Institute of Science.
International Appointments
• Positions in academia and membership on committees
2018-present Chair The European Research Council (ERC): Review panel ERC
Advanced grant, on Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology.
2015-2018 Member EMBO Young Investigator Program: of the selection
committee
2012 – 2018: Member The European Research Council (ERC): review panel
ERC Advanced grant, on Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Systems
Biology.
2010: Member of the International Advisory Board, Centre for Integrative
Systems Biology at Imperial College, London.
• Teaching experience - courses taught
2012-present Lecturer Advanced Seminar of Regulatory Genomics, Feinberg
Graduate School, Weizmann Institute of Science
2014 – present: Lecturer “Regulatory Genomics”, Feinberg Graduate School,
Weizmann Institute of Science.
2014 – 2017: Lecturer “Medical Genomics, Genetics” Harvard Summer School.
2011 – 2014: Lecturer “Systems and Genome Biology” Harvard Summer School.
2003 – 2006: Lecturer "Computational Functional Genomics.” Feinberg
Graduate School, Weizmann Institute of Science.
1998: Teaching Assistant for the course, "Programming for Bioinformatics and
Internet." Feinberg Graduate School, Weizmann Institute of Science.
1997: Lecturer "Computational Genomic and Bioinformatics." Feinberg
Graduate School, Weizmann Institute of Science.
1994: Teaching Assistant "Receptors and Recognition." Feinberg Graduate
School, Weizmann Institute of Science.
1992: Teaching Assistant “Calculus.” Tel Aviv University.
• Membership on scientific advisory boards, consulting activities
2009 – 2011: Consultant for Evogene, Rehovot, Israel.
2005: Member of the Program Committee, RECOMB 2005, (San Diego CA,
USA).
2004 – 2006: Member of the Program Committee, RECOMB Regulatory
Genomics 2004, (San Diego CA, USA).
2001-2002: Consultant for Pfizer, Cambridge MA, on G-Protein Coupled
Receptor structure and function.
• Membership on editorial boards
Associate Editor: PLoS Computational Biology (term ended)
Associate Editor: Biology Direct
Editorial Board Member Current Opinion in Genetics and Development
Education
2000 - 2002 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical
School, Boston, MA, USA. Advisor: Prof. George M. Church.
1995 - 1999 Ph.D. degree. Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann
Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. Thesis title: Structural and evolutionary
genomics of molecular recognition repertoires. Advisors: Prof. Doron Lancet,
Prof. Ephraim Katchalski-Katzir.
1994 - 1995 Studies toward M.Sc. degree followed by transferring to direct
Ph.D. track. Department of Membrane Research and Biophysics, Weizmann
Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. Advisors: Prof. Doron Lancet, Prof. Ephraim
Katchalski-Katzir.
1990 - 1993 B.Sc. degree. Major: Biology. Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv,
Israel.
International Recognition
• Prizes, awards, and competitive scholarships
2018 ERC PoC Grant
2014 ERC Consolidator Grant
2013 IBM Faculty Award
2012 Michael Bruno Memorial Award
2011 EMBO member
2010 Hestrin Prize. The Israeli Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
2008 European Research Council grant award
2007 Levinson Prize in Biology, awarded by the Scientific Council, Weizmann
Institute of Science
2006 James Heineman Research Award, (awarded by Minerva Stiftung).
2005 EMBO Young Investigator Award, awarded by the European Molecular
Biology Organization.
2003 Fellowship from the Center for Complexity Sciences – a merit-based
fellowship for young principal investigators (awarded by the Horowitz
Foundation).
2000 Fulbright Postdoctoral Award, awarded by the United States - Israel
Educational Foundation.
1999 Prize of Distinction for outstanding Ph.D. studies. Awarded by the
Feinberg Graduate School, Weizmann Institute of Science.
1998 First Prize in the National Competition for Multidisciplinary Ph.D.
Studies. Awarded by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Hebrew
University of Jerusalem.
1997 Fellowship of Distinction for outstanding achievement in studies and
research. Awarded by the Dean of the Feinberg Graduate School, Weizmann
Institute of Science.
• International organizing committees, Membership in juries, Review boards
2020 Language of Evolution and Evolution of the Language, an international
conference at the Weizmann Institute
2019 Co-started The First Conference of the Israeli Evolution Society
Started Evolthon the Lab Evolution challenge
2016 Genome Evolution 2016, an international conference at the Weizmann
Institute
2014 Member on the Pan-Cancer Genome Atlas project
2014 Initiated and co-organized the first Workshop on the Economy of a Cell,
ICTP, Trieste
2013, 2015 review panel member, Israel Science Foundation, Bioinformatics,
Systems and computational Biology committee
2011-present Initiated and directed Harvard-Weizmann partnership in Systems
Biology
2009-2010 USA-Israel Bi-national Foundation (BSF) review panel member,
Computational Biology
• Invited talks at international meetings
1. FEBS Meeting - Ljubljana, 2020
2. Third Annual Symposium on Protein Folding on the Ribosome. Berlin, 2019
3. Gordon Research Conference on Molecular Mechanisms in Evolution. Stonehill MA,
2019
4. Translating Translation, the RNA society. Hamburg 2018
5. Invited Speaker, 4th EMBO conference on Experimental Approaches to Evolution
and Ecology using Yeast and Other Systems 2016
6. Invited Speaker, Winter School on Quantitative Systems Biology, The
International Centre for Theoretical Science (ICTS) Bangalore, India 2015
7. Invited Speaker, Cancer Symposium at the Nobel Forum, Karolinska Institute,
Stockholm, Sweden, 2015.
8. Invited Speaker, the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), as part of the
international seminar series, Amsterdam 2015.
9. Plenary Lecture The Joseph Braverman Annual Lecture, Biotechnology
Engineering Faculty Day, Technion, Haifa 2014 .
10. Invited Speaker at EMBO Experimental Approaches to Evolution and Ecology
using Yeast and other Model Systems, Heidelberg, 2014.
11. Organizer, and speaker, Workshop on Cellular Economy the International Centre
for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, 2014
12. Invited speaker at EMBO Cancer Genomics Meeting November 2013,
Heidelberg.
13. Invited speaker at 108th ITC Causes and consequences of aneuploidy, October
Titisee 2013.
14. Plenary Lecture New EMBO member lecture at the EMBO Members Meeting
2012.
15. Invited Speaker EMBO Conference series: Experimental Approaches to Evolution
and Ecology using Yeast, Heidelberg 2012.
16. Invited Speaker EMBO Conference series: From Functional Genomics to Systems
Biology, Heidelberg, 2012.
17. Keynote International conference on information processing in cells and tissues
Cambridge UK, 2012.
18. Talk at the Distinguished Lecture Series at McGill University, 2011.
19. Plenary Speaker The International Conference on Systems Biology (ICSB)
Heidelberg 2011.
20. Invites Speaker EMBO meeting title: Controlling the ribosome on the genetic
highway, Barcelona, 2012.
21. Keynote speaker Imperial College London 2010 An open day on computational
systems biology.
22. Keynote speaker RECOMB Bioinformatics-education San-Diego 2010.
23. Whitehead Institute Lecture Series, Invited talk "Post-transcription regulatory
networks, Cambridge, MA 2010.
24. Keynote speaker Keystone meeting on Biomolecular Interaction Networks:
Function and Disease 2010 Quebec City 2010 .
25. Keynote speaker The 24th International Conference on Yeast Genetics and
Molecular Biology Manchester UK, 2009
26. Invited Speaker Whistler Meeting on yeast genetics 2009.
27. Invited guest, Pasteur-Weizmann Program, Institute Pasteur, Paris 2009.
28. EMBO Young Investigator meeting, Heidelberg Germany, 2008.
29. Invited Speaker Batsheva Seminar on Information Processing in Living Cells
(International meeting), Ein Gedi Israel. 2008.
30. Invited Speaker The Human Genome Meeting (HUGO), India. (declined) 2008.
31. Invited Speaker EMBO workshop on Evolutionary and Environmental Genomics
of Yeast, 2008.
32. Plenary Speaker The German Bioinformatics Conference, Potsdam, Germany,
2007.
33. Invited Speaker The 9th International Northern European Bioinformatics
Conference, Umeå, Sweden, 2007.
34. Invited Speaker International course on "Global interrogations of biological
processes" ISREC, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2006.
35. Invited Speaker Systems Biology and Evolution Workshop, Imperial College,
London, UK, 2006.
36. Speaker at the Baure Center for Genomics Research, Harvard University,
Cambridge 2006.
37. Speaker at The 6th EMBO Young Investigator Meeting, Vienna 2006.
38. Guest lecturer in the seminar series of the Rockefeller Center for Studies in
Physics and Biology, New York, 2006.
39. Invited Speaker The Yeast Systems Biology Network, Gotenburg, Sweden, 2005.
40. Invited Speaker The 3rd Bertinoro Computational Biology Meeting, Bertinoro,
Italy, 2005.
41. Invited Speaker EMBO Practical Course on Functional Genomics, Milan, Italy,
2005.
42. Speaker (selected by peer review) The First Annual RECOMB Meeting on
Regulatory Genomics. University of California at San Diego, San Diego, CA,
USA, 2004.
43. Invited Speaker The 5th International Northern European Bioinformatics
Conference, Helsinki, Finland, 2003.
44. Invited Speaker The 2nd Annual McGill Workshop on Computational Biology,
Barbados, 2003.
45. Invited Speaker, DIMACS Workshop on Integration of Diverse Biological Data,
Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA, 2003.
• Invited talks at national meetings
1. 2015 Landscapes of Collectivity in the Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem.
2. 2015 NYU-Tel Aviv Symposium on Individuality and Cooperation: Cells,
Organisms and Populations, Tel-Aviv.
3. 2014 “Genomic and systems perspectives on protein translation” Anat Krauskopf
memorial lecture, Tel-Aviv University.
4. 2014 “Prospects of realizing Lamarckian evolution in the lab” Gene to Genome
Workshop, Ben-Gurion University
5. 2014 A dual translation efficiency program in proliferation and differentiation”
Cancer Research Club, Weizmann Institute of Science
6. 2014 A dual translation efficiency program in proliferation and differentiation”
Cancer Research Club, Weizmann Institute of Science
7. 2008 “Coping with genetic and non-genetic stress.” ILANIT, Eilat, Israel.
8. 2004 “Promoter analysis of gene duplications reveals the architecture of genetic
backup circuits.” The Annual Meeting of the Israel Society of Genetics, (Haifa,
Israel).
9. 2003 “Computational dissections of genetics regulatory networks.” The 6th
Israeli Bioinformatics Conference, Haifa, Israel.
• Refereed international conference talks
1. 2007 “Comparative genomics of translation regulation in yeast,” a “Highlight
Track” ISMB, Vienna.
2. 2005 “Genome-wide transcription regulatory circuits controlling cellular
malignant transformation.” (One of 50 talks selected for oral presentation from
500 submissions. (Lecture delivered by my student) Best Poster Award. ISMB,
Detroit.
3. 2005 “Transcriptional reprogramming in genetic backup circuits.” (One of 50
talks selected for oral presentation from 500 submissions. (Lecture delivered by
my student) ISMB, Detroit.
4. 2005 “Characterization of the effects of TF binding site variations on gene
expression: Towards predicting the functional outcomes of regulatory SNPs.”
(Lecture delivered by my student.) RECOMB Regulatory Genomics and Systems
Biology, San Diego.
5. 2005 “Backup by paralogs decouples genes lethality from centrality: evidence
for preferential backup of hubs.” RECOMB Regulatory Genomics and Systems
Biology, San Diego.
6. 2005 “Phenotypic divergence correlates with translational control signals in
protein coding sequences in yeast species.” (Lecture delivered by my student.)
RECOMB Regulatory Genomics and Systems Biology, San Diego.
Scientific Productivity
• Competitive national and international grants (latest grant first)
1. 2020-2026 Minerva Center on “Live emulation of genome evolution in the lab”
(a Center under my initiation and directorship, with 7 additional groups) €
900,000 (pending renewal)
2. 2019-2024 Israel Science Foundation Protein secretion as a basis of social life in
microbes (NIS 1,500,000)
3. 2018-2020 The European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept grant,
Enhancing biological drug production through protein secretion (SECReTE), Euro
150,000
4. 2018-2020 Israel Cancer Research Foundation: Characterizing the spectrum
and mechanisms of phenotypic errors in cancer, $100,000
5. 2015-2018 Minerva Foundation tRNA sequencing in cancer 150,000 Euro
6. 2014-2019 Israel Science Foundation The proteome in cancer and normal cells
NIS 1,500,000
7. 2014-2020 Minerva Center on “Live emulation of genome evolution in the lab”
(a Center under my initiation and directorship, with 7 additional groups) €
900,000
8. 2014-2019 “Translation in proliferating and differentiated cells” The European
Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant,
€ 1,650,000
9. 2013 IBM Faculty Award, $10,000
10. 2013-2014 “Evolution of the Hebrew language” The Braginski Center for the
interface of science and humanities at the Weizmann Institute of Science, $40,000
11. 2011-2016 “Functional genomics and systems-level analysis of septicemic E. coli
pathogens” German-Israeli Project Cooperation (DIP), € 250,000 (lab’s portion in
a consortium of 6 labs)
12. 2010-2013 “Adaptive conditioning and anticipation of environmental
perturbations in microbial systems”, Minerva Foundation, € 150,000
13. 2008-2011 “Pavlovian genetics in microorganisms”, Israel Science Foundation
(ISF), FIRST grant, $180,000
14. 2008 - 2012 “Expression regulatory networks: Beyond promoters and
transcription control.” European Research Foundation (ERC) “Ideas Grant,” a
personal competitive grant awarded by the EU. € 1,300,000
15. 2004-2009 A non-competitive grant from the Ben May Foundation. $105,000
16. 2007 - 2009 “Systems biology of regulatory networks.” Minerva Foundation.
€ 150,000
17. 2007 – 2008 “A potential role for non-coding RNA in regulating gene expression
noise: a mathematical approach”, Clore Center for Biological Physics, Weizmann
Institute of Science. $20,000
18. 2006 - 2010 “Evolutionary Conditioning,” a non-competitive grant from the
Tauber Foundation (with N. Eshel Ben-Jacob, et al.). $200,000
19. 2006 - 2010 James Heineman Research Award, (Minerva Stiftung)
€ 60,000
20. 2006 – 2009 EMBO Young Investigator Program (YIP). European Molecular
Biology Organization. € 45,000
21. 2005 – 2010 “The effect of mutations on transcription regulation.” European
Union Network of Excellence in Bioinformatics. € 300,000 (with 20 additional
groups)
22. 2005 Grant from the Center for Systems Biology, Weizmann Institute of
Science. $10,000
23. 2004 - 2007 “Deciphering the structure and logic of genetic regulatory
networks and signaling pathways in multi-cellular organisms.” Israel Science
Foundation (ISF). $240,000
24. 2004 - 2006 “Computational dissections of transcription factor-promoter
interactions.” Minerva Foundation. € 75,000
25. 2003 - 2004 A lab-grant from the Horowitz Foundation Center for Complexity
Sciences. $88,000
• Students, Postdoctoral and Research Fellows
Five former lab members, below, have an independent academic appointment
Research fellows, senior lab workers and programmers
Name Years Capacity Background Comments
Dr. Shai Kaplan 2003-2004 Lab programmer Computer
Science
Founder and CEO,
Robiotech
Dr. Itay Furman 2006-2009 Algorithm designer Physics
Dr. Orna Dahan 2009-presence Research Associate Biology Tenured (2015)
Dr. Ruth Towers 2010-presence Lab manager Biology
Dvir Dahary 2009-2013 Bioinformatics expert Founder and CEO,
Toldot Genetics
Tammy
Menasherov
2014- Bioinformatics
programmer
Computational
biology
Postdoctoral Fellows
Name Years Background Current
Dr. Orna Dahan 2006-2009 Biology Currently: Research
associate in the lab
Dr. Naomi Siew 2006-2007 Chemistry Currently: Intellectual
Property Director, Life
Sciences
BGN Technologies
Dr. Maria
Rodriguez
Martinez
2007-2009 Physics Currently: Group Leader,
IBM Research, Systems
Biology, Zurich
Dr. Naaman Kam 2008-2010 Computational
Biology, computer
science
Currently: Post-doc
Berkley University
Dr. Bella
Groisman
2008-2010 Biology Currently: Post-doc
University of Toronto
Yishay Shoval 2009-2011 Biology Currently: Researcher,
Institute of Medical
Genetics, Western Galilee
Dr. Tamir Tuller 2009-2010 Electrical
engineering
Currently: Assistant
Professor, Engineering Tel-
Aviv Univeristy;
Koshland post-doc
Fellowship
Dr. Nir Fluman 2012-2014 Biology Currently: Post-doc
Karolinska Institute
EMBO postdoc fellowship
Dr. Martin Mikl 2014- Biology Shared with Eran segal
Ph.D. Students
Name Years Background Honors Comments
Dr. Ran Kafri 2003-2007 Chemistry HFSP fellowship,
Feinberg Graduate
School, PhD Prize of
Excellent
Currently: Assistant
Professor, University
of Toronto.
Dr. Shai Shen-
Orr
2003-2004
Guest student in
the lab, from
Harvard
Information
Systems
Currently: Assistant
Professor, Technion
Dr. Michal
Lapidot
2003-2007 Chemistry Horowitz Foundation
Center for Complexity
Sciences Award
Orna Man 2004-2007 Computer science,
biology
Weizmann Institute of
Science —
National Postdoctoral
Award Program for
Advancing Women in
Science
The David Brenner
Memorial Prize of
excellence for PhD
studies, Feinberg
Graduate School,
Weizmann Institute of
Science
Dr. Amir
Mitchell
2005-2009 Biology The Israeli Society for
Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology
award of excellence
for PhD research;
The Haim Holtzman
Memorial Prize for
PhD research,
Feinberg Graduate
School, Weizmann
Institute of Science;
EMBO postdoctoral
fellowship; Fulbright
postdoctoral
fellowship – declined
Currently: Post-doc
UCSF
Dr. Reut Shalgi 2005-2009 Biology, computer
science
Horowitz Foundation
Center for Complexity
Sciences Award; Lee
Segal Award of
Mathematical Biology
Lee Segal Award;
Alon Fellowship
Currently: Assistant
Professor, Technion
Dr. Ophir
Shalem
2007-2011 Computer science Dan David
Scholarship; EMBO
postdoctoral
fellowship; Klarman
cell observatory
Currently: post-doc
Broad Institute
fellowship;
Dr. Zohar Bloom 2007-2012 Biology Currently: appointed
postdoc, Washington
U.
Dr. Sivan Navon 2008-2013 Physics, Math
(Talpiot)
Currently: Engineer
at Rafael
Dr. Hila Gingold 2008-2013 Computational
Biology
Currently: Senior
Interim in the lab
Dr. Avihu Yona 2009-2013 Biophysics EMBO postdoctoral
fellowship
Currently: postdoc
MIT
Yonit Hofman 2011- Biology,
Computer science
Shared with Moshe
Oren
Idan Frumkin 2012- Biology EMBO short term
fellowship;
Azrieli PhD
fellowship; Wolf
Foundation
Fellowship
Ernest Mordret 2013- Biological
engineering
Shared with Ariel
Lindner, Paris
Descartes University
Dorit Hizi 2013- Physics, Math
(Talpiot)
Shared with Oded
Rechavi, TAU
Amit Alon 2014- Physics, Computer
science
Shared with Oded
Rechavi, TAU
Lian Narunski 2014- Biology Shared with Ravid
Strauusman
M.Sc. students
Name Years Background Comment
Ilana Lavie 2003-2004 Computer science Shared with Ronen Basri
Reut Shalgi 2004-2005 Computer science,
biology
Shared with Ron Shamir
Yael Garten 2004-2005 Computational biology PhD at Stanford,
currently at LinkIn
Arren Bar-Even 2005-2006 Biology Currently: Junior
Research Group Leader
position Max-Plank
Institute
Ilya Venger 2005-2006 Biology With Asaph Aharoni
Avihu Yona 2007 Biophysics Transfer to direct PhD
Asaf Carmi 2008-2009 Computer science
Yanir Manor 2011-2012 Biology Currently: PhD student
at WIS
Nitai Steinberg 2011-2012 Biology Currently: PhD student
at WIS
Idan Frumkin 2011-2012 Biology Prize of Distinction,
Feinberg Graduate
School
Aviv Rotman 2014- Computational Biology
Itamar Francoise 2014- Biology
Asaf Blumental 2014 Biology Shared with Ido Amit
Noa Haefetz 2014- Biology
Patents
Provisionary patent application: “A universal adaptive translation efficiency profile of
proteins designed accordingly” In preparation by Yeda Research and Development Co.,
Ltd.
Provisionary patent application: “Global and local architecture of the mammalian
microRNA-transcription factor regulatory network.” In preparation by Yeda Research
and Development Co., Ltd.
I. Languages
Hebrew: Reading: 3, Writing: 3, Speaking: 3
English: Reading: 3, Writing: 3, Speaking: 3
Scale: 1 (basic) to 3 (fluent)